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August 11, 2006

G114: Red Sox 9, Orioles 2

Boy, that was nice.

Wells had excellent command of all of his pitches (7-9-1-1-4, 98) and the 7-run third inning was more than enough. Wells is never flashy, but when he's on, he's more than solid. I feel confident he'll be very important over the next two months. ... Kyle Snyder finished up and fooled several Orioles with his 12-to-6 curveball (Jay Gibbons and Kevin Millar both struck out looking at it).

Wily E. Pena ended the top of the fourth by throwing out Jeff Conine at the plate. Conine tried to score from second on Millar's single, but Pena unleashed a missle that Javy Lopez caught head-high on the fly and tagged Lopez out by 5-10 feet.

In New York, Cory Lidle lasted only 79 pitches (4-4-3-2-3) as the Angels beat the Yankees 7-4. Derek Jeter made the final out of the game, fouling out with a man on base and reducing New York's lead to two games.

***

8:30 PM -- The Red Sox scored 7 runs in the third inning and lead 8-0.

Mike Lowell has been a veritable highlight reel. After being drilled squarely on the left side of the helmet in the first inning, he has tumbled completely into the third base stands while making a fantastic catch on a popup, singled home a run in the third and stolen third base.

Alex Gonzalez tripled into the left field corner. Yup, the left field corner. ... Manny Ramirez is already 2-for-3 and has hit in 26 straight games. ... David Wells struck out the first two Orioles on only six pitches and looks very good.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, TITO? Coco leading off? Pena 7th? Don't you fucking get it at all?

Youkilis's Leadoff OBP of .395 is way fucking better than Crisp's Leadoff OBP of .285! This is not golf -- getting a lower score is not preferred.

Can someone affiliated with the Red Sox please tell me why this is allowed to continue? Can one of the Red Sox beat writers get an answer from Francona? Tito's "stretch out the lineup" bullshit doesn't wash with me. The Red Sox should strive to have as many baserunners on base when Ortiz and Manny come up to bat. Simple as that. And it is especially crucial at a time when they are the only ones hitting with any consistency.

Youkilis is the team's best choice for the top of the order. Crisp has a .375/.408/.486 in 76 PA in the #7 spot. That's really good! So what's wrong?

15 comments:

Re lineups: my impression - which could be based on out-of-date info - is that some believe lineup order doesn't matter much. Here's an article which looked at all possible lineups over a ten year span, and found no difference (more than a couple %) between lineups. It seems from the results that the 1 and 5 spots are especially interchangeable. So maybe the OBP differential betwewn Cocoa and Youkilis doesn't really matter, and decisions are made on more specific factors (R-L, etc)? Just a guess.

No, you're right...move Crisp down. Loretta has been spectacular in the #2 slot. My guess is that Tito wants to get Crisp going...surely he's better than this. But it's dumb any way you slice it. Those simulations don't have Ortiz and Manny batting 3 and 4. Could anything be more clear than the fact that you want your best OBA guys batting in front of them?And there's no excuse for batting Pena where he is. Sure, he can be pitched to. But he's the scariest batter the Sox have not named David or Manny.

And I agree with your thoughts about Boomer. I knew he was going to get better, location AND movement wise, with each start. And to see him every 5 days will be a joy, most of the time. Joy! A nice word. I always check you guys out at baseballnooz.com. For those of you who haven't checked it out, it's a great place. Click on Boston Red Sox, and you see a great collection of Sox blogs, and you can subscibe to get them on your feed. And Joy Of Sox and my blog are the only 2 Red Sox blogs listed on the most subscribed blog lists. Select company! An honor.

Sometimes you go with intuition despite what studies prove or don't prove. Your best hitters should be at the top of the lineup because the more the lineup turns over, and the more games they play, the more at-bats your best hitters will get. Coco is not one of the Sox best hitters right now. And doesn't Tito want to see Papi, Ortiz and Wily Mo all standing in the on-deck area, tinkering with their bats, sizing up a relief pitcher warming in the late innings? Talk about fear factor. Does Tito honestly think he'd be putting more pressure on Wily Mo by batting him fifth and leaving him in RF than the jerking around he's putting him through now? Wily Mo has to think that any failure means riding the pine, and that ain't right.

Redsock: Can you believe the comments from Francona in today's Globe about the 5th slot? Oh, brother! I wonder who Terry thinks had been sneaking in and writing Varitek's name 5th on the line-up card all these months? He has "no choice" but to bat Youk 5th???? Like he had "no choice" but to write in a catcher having a bad year who has never been confortable batting with men on base, or a right-fielder who was hitting homers less often than the good-filed no-hit short-stop. Prior to Wil Mo's return, Lowell has been the obvious, classic number 5 hitter, and if he had been there regularly, he would have done well, He batted third and 4th in Florida.

I agee with you also. But I question most of titos moves. Especially leaving pitchers like wells and johnson in for 8 and 7 earned runs respectively. This has gone on way too long. Why are the yanks in 1st place in the east? answer: because torre knows how to stop the bleeding. And if titos baseball knowledge doesnt allow him to evaluate whether a starter has his stuff or not, early in the game, then its probably time to go. The sox have way more talent than this. Underachievers. and I do not have to wait until October to say this. The writing is on the wall with billboard size letters.